Buffing and polishing implement



Nov. 9, 1943, I E. 1. HARRISON 2,333,785

. BUFFING AND POLISHING IMPLEMENT Filed March 1, 1943 1398726 fflar'l'l so7z arvzeys;

Patented Nov. 9, 1943 BUFFING AND romsnmo IMPLEMENT Eugene I. Harrison, Cicero, Ill., assignor to Buff Service & Supply Co., Chicago, 111., a partnership composed of Alfred N. Cooke and Hubert Lee Steed, both of Oak Park, Ill.

Application March 1, 1943, Serial No. 477,500 Claims. (Cl. 51-193) The present invention relates to brushing, polishing and buffing. It is particularly directed to a device for finishing the surfaces of dentures although in its broader aspects it is not limited thereto.

This application is a continuation in part of my prior application, Serial No. 449,714, filed July 4, 1942, for Brush and buffing wheel.

In the finishing of artificial dentures and similar articles, particularly those using the acrylic resin compounds, it is a difiicult matter to obtain a brushing and polishing element that has sufficient flexibility to enable it to reach into the various pockets and corners and that also has sufficient ability to retain the polishing medium and withstand the rough usage. In the past it has been the practice to utilize brushes for the initial finishing operation and fabric buffers to complete the finishing operation.

It is the principal purpose of my invention to provide a novel brushing, polishing and bufiing element which is capable of accomplishing the results of both the brushing and the final finishing operation in one treatment of the articles. The implement may of course be constructed in various forms and it may be provided with suitable mounting means'for mounting it upon a driving element such as an arbor.

More particularly my invention contemplates the provision of a combination brushing and buffing implement where the disadvantages of a brush in retaining the polishing compound such as pumice-stone or tripoli are overcome, while the advantages of a brush and of a buffer are obtained in the one implement.

In the construction of the implement I utilize bristles which may be either of animal hair or other materials such as the so-called synthetic bristles now on the market. The word bristles as used herein is intended .to identify hair and substitutesfor hair such as the monofilarnents sold by Du Pont and a. similar synthetic bristle sold by the Dow Chemical Company; in other words, any bristle which is generally the equivalent of the hair bristles commonly used in polishing brushes.

Specifically the implement utilizes bristles arranged in such fashion as to project the ends thereof against the work in combination with a bufiing material such as muslin or similar cotton fabric interwoven with the bristles so that the fabric grips the bristles and separates them from each other in the body of the implement, thereby yieldingly holding them in position so that they will project against the work at the proper angle.

In the simplest form of my invention a polishing wheel, which may take the form of a disc, a cylinder or other common shape, is composed of a multiplicity of layers in which the individual bristles are interwoven with fabric threads to form a cloth.

The finishing implement is particularly advantageous for use in wet form, that is, with a polishing compound that is wetted and kept in a moist condition, the implement itself being thereby moistened.

It will be appreciated that the bristles, being generally smooth and hard surfaced, are difiicult to hold in place in a rotating implement because of the continual tendency to drag them outwardlyboth by centrifugal force and by engagement with the surface that is being polished and bufied. I have found that in order to hold the bristles successfully it is highly advantageous to treat the interwoven bristles and fabric with a binder that is made water insoluble before the layers of bristle cloth are secured together in the final form of the implement. It is a further purpose of this invention therefore to provide a novel bristle cloth (bristle and buffing material such as muslin or cotton fabric interwoven to produce a cloth sheet) impregnated with a material which at the time it is applied is a water solution but which is rendered water insoluble in its final form.

while in the present form of the invention the implement is shown as a disc it must be understood that the specific form of the implement shown is illustrative only and that it may be made up in various forms depending upon the desired use. It must also be understood that the drawing and description are illustrative only and are not to be taken as limiting the invention except insofar as it is limited by the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a finishing disc embodying the invention, certain parts of the disc being broken away to show the interior structure thereof;

Fig. 2 is a side edge view taken to show the periphery of the disc;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating the manner in which the bristles are interwoven and bound to the supporting fabric;

and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating the appearance of the implement after it has been broken in.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the

able arbor l I. In devices of this character the arbor is usually of such nature that it threads into the implement and thus obtains sufiicient grip on the material of the implement to cause the implement to rotate with the arbor in the finishing operation. The implement as shown is provided with a central aperture indicated at l2 and desirably the material immediately adjacent the central aperture I2 is treated with shellac to give it a certain amount of rigidity. The finishing implement itself ismade up of a multiplicity of inner layers l3, each of which is composed of bristles l4 and cotton or similar fabric threads 15. The interweaving of the threads with the bristles is preferably such that adjacent bristles are not held by the same threads but are held by laterally offset threads. The specific weave is found particularly advantageous is the socalled herringbone weave. Bristles, particularly those of animal hair, vary in diameter. Furthermore, they have a relatively smooth, hard surface which makes it diflicult to bind them so that they will not work out. It will be appreciated that in the us of a finishing implement of this type the bristles will work out and be lost unless they are quite securely bound.

In order to insure adequate binding for securing of the bristles in the bristle cloth I use a binder l6 which will be described more fully hereinafter. It should be understood of course that the showing of the binder herein is relatively inaccurate and is done merely to indicate its presence rather than to show exactly how it is distributed. The nature of the binder must be such that when originally applied it soaks into the fabric threads just as water would but when finally treated it does not dissolve when the implement is wetted by the application of a wet polishing compound to it.

The finishing implement is completed by arranging several layers of the bristle cloth side by side and applying to the outside of these layers additional layers H and ill of a suitable buifing fabric such as cotton muslin or fiannel. In making up polishing discs such as shown in the drawing I utilize the well known idea of stag ering the weaves of adjacent layers of the bristle cloth so as to distribute the web and weft threads uniformly around the circumference of the disc. This is illustrated in Fig. 1 where the layers are cut away to show the direction of the weave in three of the layers. The disc has some bristles at every point in its periphery directed toward the surface at which contact with the articles to be polished is made. It will be appreciated of course that in any interwoven layer cut to circular form some of the bristles at certain specific points on the circumference lie tangent to the surface and thus are not of much value in polishing. However, when the implement is made up of a plurality of layers staggered as shown in Fig. 1 there will be bristles throughout th periphery projecting in the right direction to do a good polishing job. In constructing polishing implements of any shape it is necessary to arrange the fabric drying of the implement therefore presents a dimcult problem in obtaining good binding of the bristles by the fabric threads. In order to take advantage of the tendency of the fabric threads to swell when moistened and maintain this advantage subsequently in the use of the implement I treat the bristle cloth after it is Woven with a solution which soaks into the cloth, swelling the fabric and binding the bristles tightly in place. In fact, I find that th bristles will bend by the swelling of the cloth so as to no longer be simple, straight bristles. They become wavy.

I make a water solution of a water soluble sodium alginate known in the trade as Kelgin L. V., that is obtained from kelp. This material is first dissolved in cold water and allowed to set for a substantial period of time, for example, over night. Ifhe bristle cloth is then soaked in the solution until it is thoroughly saturated, after which it is partially dried. In this condition the bristle cloth could be washed again in plain water and the alginate would soften up and lose its advantages in holding the bristles in place. However, I treat the partially dried cloth with a solution of calcium chloride in water and this reacts with the soluble alginate to destroy the gumminess and makes a water insoluble alginate. The calcium chloride solution may b 1 pounds of calcium chloride to 1 gallon of water, for example, although the proportions are not critical. The

bristle cloth can either be dipped in the solution of calcium chloride or the solution may be sprayed onto the cloth. I prefer to treat the cloth before cutting it up into the discs or other shapes, but this of course is not necessary as the treatment may take place at any point after the bristle cloth is made. After the discs are cut up they are assembled in the proper staggered relation as illustrated in Fig. 1 and stitched together. It is important in stitching the layer together to use a stitching machine which will not cut a great many of the bristles. I find that by using a very fine needle I avoid cutting any appreciable number of the bristles.

The binder as employed herein gives the peculiar advantage of enabling me to wet the finishing implement without soaking out the insoluble binding material which appears to stay in the very fibres of the thread. The advantages of the binder therefore are obtained without losing the water absorbent characteristic of the implement in its entirety. I thus am able to use the wet polishing compound successfully with the finishing implement even though the binder has been treated to make it water insoluble. There is enough water receiving space left in the implement to add materially in adhering the wet polishing material to it and the finished implement in itself is not water repellent.

When in use the implement becomes frayed at the surface but, owing to the fact that each bristle is individually bound throughout most of its length by a multiplicity of interwoven threads which have been moistened with a solution that has been made water insoluble while the threads are still swollen, the bristles are held in place with such firmness that they do not pull out. The device has the advantage of providing fine brushing characteristics because of the way the bristles are held in the interwoven threads. There is a substantial stiffness, yet the individual bristles are separated from each other. The implement holds a polishing compound far better than a brush because of the presence of the fabric threads between the bristles. The buffing fabric which is shown as applied on both sides of the bristle cloth aids in completing the polishing operation. This is also true. ,of the fabric threads which are intermingled with the bristles.

It has been found that in the finishing of an ordinary acrylic denture a saving of as high as 50% in time over the previous method of first brushing and then buffing has been realized. The interweaving of the bristles and the fabric into a bristle cloth which provides the layers that go into a finishing disc is important in providing stiffness of the individual bristles. This construction is also advantageous in that the disc itself is flexible enough and resilient enough to get into the pockets in the dentures and finish the surfaces of the pockets. As the implement wears down the surface bristles and fabric will of course become bent in the wrong direction to do a good job. When this occurs the disc can be trimmed to remove the bent tips, after which it can be used again until it is finally too small in diameter for further operation.

From the foregoing description it is believed that the features and advantages of my invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A finishing implement of the character described, comprisinga multiplicity of bristles secured together to stand at an angle to the workmg surface of the implement whereby the tips of said bristles form in part the actual working surface of the implement, and means securing said bristles in such position, comprising fabric threads interwoven with the bristles.

2. A finishing implement of the character described, comprising a central portion composed of layers composed of interwoven bristles and cotton threads to present the bristle tips at the working surface of the implement, and layers of fabric at opposite sides of the central portion and secured thereto.

3. A finishing implement of the character described, comprising a central portion composed of layers composed of interwoven bristles and cotton threads to present the bristle tips at the working surface of the implement, and layers of fabric at opposite sides of the central portion and secured thereto, said central portion having a plurality of layers, some of which present the tips of the cotton threads to the working surface.

5. A disc for polishing and buffing and particularly applicable to the finishing of artificial dentures, comprising a plurality of layers of interwoven bristles and fabric threads secured together one upon another and arranged so that the bristles therein are directed radially with respect to different portions of the disc periphery in different layers, and an all fabric layer on each side of said first named layers and secured thereto.

6. A disc for polishing and buffing and particularly applicable to the finishing of artificial dentures, comprising a plurality of layers of interwoven bristles and fabric threads secured together one upon another and arranged so that the bristles therein are directed radially with respect to different portions of the disc periphery in different layers, the bristles and threads being adhered to each other by an adhesive substance tending to prevent the bristles from working out.

7. A finishing implement of the character described adapted to brush and buff, said implement having a mounting portion adapted to receive a drive member for rotating it and said implement comprising a plurality of layers of interwoven bristles and fabric threads secured together and arranged so that the bristles therein are directed radially with respect to different portions of the periphery of the implement, in different layers.

8. A finishing implement of the character described adapted to brush and buff, said implement having a mounting portion adapted to receive a drive member for rotating it and said implement comprising a plurality of layers of interwoven bristles and fabric threads secured together and arranged so that the bristles therein are directed radially with respect to different portions of the periphery of the implement in different layers, the layers being impregnated with a binder tending .to prevent the bristles from working out.

4. A disc for polishing and buffing and par- I ticularly applicable to the finishing of artificial dentures, comprising a plurality of layers of interwoven bristles and fabric threads secured together one upon another and arranged so that the bristles therein are directed radially with respect to different portions of the disc periphery in different layers.

9. A finishing implement of the character described, said implement having a mounting portion adapted to receive a drive member, said implement comprising a plurality of layers of interwoven bristles and fabric threads secured together, the bristles and fabric threads being bound together in the individual layers by a binder which is water insoluble.

10. A method of making bristle cloth for finishing implements and the like which comprises interweaving fabric threads and bristles to form a cloth layer, thoroughly wetting the layer with a seaweed gel water solution (Kelgin L. V.) partially drying the layer and thereafter rendering the gel water insoluble by treating the layer with a calcium chloride solution.

EUGENE I. HARRISON. 

